*Zygote to Zeitgeist* Just in principle, things seem to work in the human sphere in an ecological niche filling way. In the Web, it seems to me that any niche, community of interest, language, science grouping, geographical location and a billion different pulls in different directions will separate people as in a Mandelbrot Set in a giant mental fractal pattern.
While there are big 'uns, such as Yahoo! Amazon and co, it seems to me that there would at some stage, like a laminar fluid flow breaking into turbulent flow above a certain flow rate, be a fractalization into a myriad of 'portals' or whatever access methods people use.
I don't see how Yahoo! can just get bigger and bigger, like a monster Coca Cola, General Motors, or Standard Oil. Those were self-limiting, despite the unfortunate intervention of the anti-trust fanatics in the Standard Oil case. It seems, [to throw in yet another analogy], that like an atomic nucleus getting bigger and bigger, there is a limit to the size they can be and then they will spontaneously collapse, break up or otherwise disintegrate.
George Gilder talks about the new scarcity and what's become really cheap. Wireless Web [WWeb] is in the process of becoming really cheap. The new scarcity is brain power [Gilder says it's time, but for me it is really brainpower - I just don't have enough to know what the hell is going on]. So the Internet, WirelessKnowledge and WWeb worlds will provide brainpower, in a way similar to the industrial revolution providing a replacement for muscle power.
While I'm a wild enthusiast for the Zygote turning into <something> ... well, new, I have little idea where it's heading. I raised this with you just about 3 years ago and you suggested Zeitgeist. Zeitgeist is becoming reality [for a still small part of the world's population]. But I wondered if you have any more suggestions on where we are going.
I've backed Qualcomm and Globalstar as being the actual builders of the necessary hardware and software to make it function. The Web stocks sit on top of that. You know which was the better capital gain so far, though Qualcomm has made more profit!
The marginal cost for existing or new Web companies to do things is near zero and there are no barriers to entry and automatic fractalization, so, my questions are:
Where is this all going [do we end up living an Orwellian 1984 or do we end up as super encrypted snug and safe individuals]?
Will the 'BIG' Web stocks fragment into a competitive kaleidoscope of human 'stuff', Yahoo! replaced by many little Yahoos?
The other one is, who is going to produce encrypted cybermoney and cyberbanks in 1 cent [or Cyber equivalent] denominations for encrypted Weblooms[TM] to be propagated and paid for?
A Webloom being a bloom as people pass something which they consider hot stuff on to their circle of contacts with a recommendation to view at the price quoted - a huge Webloom would involve a video clip of BillC and Monica in the Oval office which would propagate far and wide at a 20 cent charge. A small Webloom would be an arcane announcement about Ohio emissions regulations for a particular model of car. A good Webloom could make the encrypter a billionaire in 48 hours, making the Web stocks look slow. [A billion people at $1 pay per view. Even 10 million at 10 cents is not to be sniffed at].
I receive and mostly read your internet stock reports thanks for those, but might have missed what you think on these things. If you wouldn't mind telling us what you think I'd appreciate it.
With thanks,
Maurice
[A novice on internet stocks - so no biting! You'll be inundated with questions in SI!!] |
